Sweethearts Candy Blog's

James Dean was a handsome and charismatic actor in the early 1950's.  After taking drama classes at UCLA, he traveled to New York, where he lived in poverty while making the difficult climb from auditions and bit parts to become a celebrated actor, eventually starring in such films as "Rebel Without a Cause," "East of Eden" and "Giant."  He is probably most known as the brooding and troubled youth Jim Stark in "Rebel Without a Cause," where he starred along side Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.

Dean was killed on September 30, 1955, when the Porsche Spyder he was driving struck another car that veered into his lane, colliding almost head on, near Cholame in central California.  Dean died on the way to the hospital.  He was 24 years old.

At the time of his death, Dean was driving to Salinas, California to participate in a sports car race.  Salinas is only a few miles from my home here in Hollister.

The accident abruptly ended the life of a brilliant talent with all of its promise of future accomplishment.

Hulu.com has a movie about the life of James Dean here.

I won my appeal before the Employment Development Department.

Now the EDD wants to interview me to see why I did not submit my unpaid claims forms in a timely manner.  The answer:  because the idiots didn't send them to me.  After two email requests without results, I finally sent a certified letter demanding that they send me the forms; they finally did.  (I tried calling but the telephone system there was hopelessly jammed for weeks.)

Fortunately, I documented both the emails and have a copy of the certified letter and receipt.  So now I have some more waiting and aggravation from the bureaucrats before I get paid, if and when I do.

Stacy McCain has pointed to the example of the great General George S. Patton on the mindset needed to win the coming battle for America.  He has penned an inspiring post, Lessons of Failure and Hope of Success:  Reflections on the Eve of Battle.  Stacy writes:

Victory is the choice we make when we decide that no defeat can make us stop fighting. If you are defeated today, return to the battlefield tomorrow even more determined to prevail. And no matter how often you lose, you can never be defeated so long as you continue the fight.

We are now on the eve of a political battle that could determine whether America is to achieve its destiny or be doomed to deserved oblivion, having failed to live up to that ancient vision of the City on a Hill.

Indeed, after our terrible electoral defeat in November 2008, I wrote a post titled:  "Tomorrow we begin again."  It's only content was a Photoshop graphic of the Statue of Liberty lying in ruins on a lonely beach, similar to a scene in "Planet of the Apes."  On that terrible day, we could do naught but view the ruin and the wreckage and feel the depths of our defeat.  But even then we knew we weren't through.  We would return again to the fight.  As Churchill once advised, "Never give up.  Never, never, never give up."

Occasional defeats are the price of success.  Another great American, Teddy Roosevelt, made a speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.  The most memorable quote from that speech will forever be an inspiration to those who strive for something better.  He said:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Stacy McCain can count himself among the "men in the arena," and never be one of the "cold and timid souls," and his efforts on our behalf are an inspiration in themselves.

Tony Curtis died yesterday at age 85.  Curtis was very popular in my childhood, and I remember seeing him in movies as far back as 1956, when he starred in "Trapeze."  I liked him best in "Spartacus," didn't see him in "Some Like It Hot" where he played a man in drag.  I never felt comfortable with that.  As a young boy, the thought of dressing up like a girl was extremely repugnant to me!

For me, Tony Curtis was representative of the very best era of Hollywood film.  The thought of him fires many a memory cell in my cranium, e.g. our house in Stockton, California, where I first became aware of him.  He seemed to me to be the ultimate in class, utterly handsome and suave.

Tony Curtis's film credits are listed here.

Guy Milliere, one of my favorite French writers and bloggers, will appear in Southern California October 4 for a conference entitled "Why Europe is dead and what it means for America."

Guy writes for the excellent French blog DRZZ.  Readers in Southern California are encouraged to attend.

Details of the conference are as follows

Yesterday, this CNN.com article covered the topic of food-allergic kids getting bullied. Gina Clowes of Allergy Moms shared this article and was interviewed as well. As always, Gina did a great job!

I'm always sorry to hear about kids being bullied due to food allergies. It's just not acceptable and schools need to get on board with including this aspect in their bullying prevention.

We've not experienced physical bullying due to food allergies, but teasing has definitely happened. Luckily, it hasn't amounted to much and I think most kids are supportive of their food-allergic peers. It's been my experience that kids can be more supportive than the adults at times! Still, teasing and harrassment can happen. Here is a post I wrote about food allergy teasing and how we handled it.

I'm glad that the mainstream media has begun to look at the social and lifestyle aspects of food allergies instead of only focusing on the medical issues that surround this topic. I've always maintained that the lifestyle issues of life-threatening food allergies are some of the most challenging.

What have your experiences been? How have you handled food allergy bullying and/or teasing?

I just returned from a court hearing over my unemployment benefits.  My last employer was just plain crazy and fired me in a fit of anger over a disagreement.  Then she falsely told the EDD (Employment Development Department) that she had "disciplined" me and I quit.  I read her comments in the file before the hearing and she lied her ass off.

My former employer didn't show up at the hearing but participated via telephone.  She was evasive and side-stepped the judge's questions.  When I cross-examined her about the facts surrounding my termination, she refused to provide any details.  In other words, she just made the whole thing up.

Will I win?  If I do, I will gain a healthy chunk of cash from the EDD, and perhaps can catch up some mortgage payments.

This is not my first time to represent myself in a court hearing.  I once defended a lawsuit against me in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco...and won.  My opponent was trying to use the court system to ruin me, so I had to take over my own case.  Now that was a very scary undertaking.  However, there is an old poem that goes:

Have you come to that Red Sea time in your life
When in spite of all you can do,
There is no way out, there is no way back,
There is no other way but through.

UPDATE:  The judge's decision arrived by mail today (Thursday, 9/30/2010).  I WON!!!!

Do you check the labels of foods, each and every time? Most of us probably do, but when you're used to using a "safe" food, sometimes we don't. Recently, I checked the label of Hostess Cupcakes for my daughter and was surprised to find new tree nut allergy warnings. Of course I wondered if the risk had been there all along and that may be the case. It's difficult to get a straight answer from companies on that one. Another possibility is that they changed their manufacturing practices and are using new production lines or different facilities. This happens more often than you think.

It isn't just Hostess. Whole Foods Brand Organic Ketchup now carries a nut allergy warning. One of my Facebook friends just alerted me that some types of Ragu brand spaghetti sauce now have a nut allergy warning on the label. I checked some Ragu flavors at my local supermarket and didn't see any nut allergy warnings, but you might depending on where you live.

The bottom line is to always read a label! And when providing a "safe foods" list to friends or teachers, be sure you keep a copy for yourself so you can periodically re-check the labels throughout the year. You never know when they will change!

Getting back to cupcakes. I don't usually buy Hostess cupcakes for my daughter since I am pretty much a from-scratch baker due to nut allergy risks of baked goods. Still, kids like to eat what their friends are eating. And though the taste isn't so great, the appearance of Hostess cupcakes and the cream center are a big hit with kids.

Here is a recipe for a cream-filled cupcake that I found in a cookbook years ago and tweaked for my nut-free purposes. This recipe is not something you would make every day but for birthdays or special occasions it is a delicious treat! Please note: The following recipe is nut-free only.

Nut-Free, Cream-Filled Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Cream filling:
2 3oz packages cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup marshmallow cream (I use Marshmallow Fluff brand)
1 large egg
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Cupcake batter:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch process if possible (I use Vermont Nut-Free or Hershey's Dutch Process)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tbs water
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp white distilled or cider vinegar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Make the filling: In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, egg, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Place mixture in freezer while you prepare cupcake batter (or refrigerate for one hour)

Make cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the cups of a 12-cup muffin tin with baking cups.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt, stirring with a whisk to break up any lumps. In another bowl, combine water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Gradually add liquid ingredients to the flour mixture, whisking until completely blended.

Place a tablespoon of batter on each lined muffin cup. Then place a dollop of chilled cream filling (about 1 tablespoon) into each cup. (You may have some filling left over.) Fill cups about 3/4 full with remaining cupcake batter--do not overfill. Bake 25 minutes or until cupcakes look set around the edges. Cool in tins about 15 minutes and then gently lift out of pan and place on wire rack to cool completely. When cool, finish with Fudge Icing.

Fudge Icing:
1/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Vermont Nut-Free or Hershey's brand) or 4 oz chopped semisweet chocolate (Vermont Nut-Free or Baker's brand)

Place chocolate in bowl. In a saucepan, bring cream to a low boil and then pour over chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts completely and icing is smooth. Cool until slightly thickened and room temperature.

When cupcakes are cool, frost each one with an offset spatula. Let cupcakes stand until frosting firms up.